Plutarch, Conjugalia Praecepta, Frank Cole Babbitt (Translator), 40

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[40] Hermione seems to speak the truth when she says,¹

Bad women’s visits brought about my fall.

This, however, does not come about so simply, but only when marital disagreements and jealousies open not only a wife’s doors but also her hearing to such women. So, at such a time especially, a woman who has sense ought to stop her ears, and be on her guard against whispered insinuations, so that fire may not be added to fire,² and she ought to have ready in mind the saying of Philip.³ For it is told that when he was being incited by his friends against the Greeks on the ground that they were being well treated, but were speaking ill of him, he said, What would happen, then, if we were to treat them ill? So when these back-biters say, Your husband treats grievously his loving and virtuous wife. Yes, what would happen, then, if I were to begin to hate him and wrong him?

Conjugalia Praecepta. Plutarch. Frank Cole Babbitt (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1928.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

Advice to Bride and Groom (English) (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. II. Babbitt, Frank Cole, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1928 (printing).)

Editions (1)

Γαμικὰ παραγγέλματα Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol I. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1888.) — 40 focus

[40] ἡ Ἑρμιόνη δοκεῖ τι λέγειν ἀληθὲς λέγουσα 143f

κακῶν γυναικῶν εἴσοδοί μʼ ἀπώλεσαν

τοῦτο δʼ οὐχ ἁπλῶς γιγνόμενόν ἐστιν, ἀλλʼ ὅταν αἱ πρὸς τοὺς ἄνδρας διαφοραὶ καὶ ζηλοτυπίαι ταῖς τοιαύταις 20 γυναιξὶ μὴ τὰς θύρας μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰς ἀκοὰς ἀνοίγωσι τότʼ οὖν δεῖ μάλιστα τὴν νοῦν ἔχουσαν ἀποκλείειν τὰ ὦτα καὶ φυλάττεσθαι τὸν ψιθυρισμόν, ἵνα πῦρ ἐπὶ πῦρ γένηται, καὶ πρόχειρον ἔχειν τὸ τοῦ Φιλίππου. λέγεται γὰρ ἐκεῖνος 25 ὑπὸ τῶν φίλων παροξυνόμενος ἐπὶ τοὺς Ἕλληνας ὡς εὖ πάσχοντας καὶ κακῶς αὐτὸν λέγοντας εἰπεῖν τί οὖν, ἂν καὶ² κακῶς ποιῶμεν αὐτούς; ὅταν οὖν αἱ διαβάλλουσαι λέγωσιν ὅτι λυπεῖ σε φιλοῦσαν ὁ 144a ἀνὴρ καὶ σωφρονοῦσαν, τί οὖν, ἂν φαίης,³ ἂν καὶ⁴ μισεῖν αὐτὸν ἄρξωμαι καὶ ἀδικεῖν; 5

Translations (1)

Conjugal Precepts Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals, Vol. II. Goodwin, William W., editor; Philips, John, translator. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company; Cambridge: Press of John Wilson and Son, 1874.) — 40 focus

[40] Hermione seems to be in the right, speaking to this effect in one of the tragedies of Euripides:

The lewd discourse of women void of shame

Ruined my honor and my virtuous name.

However, these mischiefs rarely happen but where women at variance and jealous of their husbands open not only their door but their ears to whole swarms of twattling gossips, that widen the difference. For then it behooves a prudent woman to shut her ears and beware of listening to such enchanting tattlers, calling to mind the answer of Philip, when he was exasperated by his friends against the Greeks for cursing and reviling him, notwithstanding all the benefits they had received at his hands: What would they have done, said he, had we used them with unkindness and severity. The same should be the reply of a prudent woman to those she-devils, when they bewail her condition, and cry, A woman so loving, so chaste and modest, and yet abused by her husband! For then should she make answer, What would he do, should I begin to hate him and to do him wrong?

Notes on the current edition

Advice to Bride and Groom

1. Euripides, Andromache, 930; Cf. also Hieronymus, Adversus Iovinianum, i. chap. xlviii. (vol. ii. p. 292 of Migne’s edition).

2. Cf. the note on 123 F supra.

3. Cf. Moralia, 179 A and 457 F. A similar remark of Pausanias is quoted in Moralia , 230 D.

Plutarch Conjugalia Praecepta 40

Frank Cole Babbitt (Translator)

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